PlantNet Mobile App Reaches 1.3 Billion Identifications, Strengthening Global Flora Inventory

Positioned as a plant identification tool, the PlantNet mobile app has processed over 1.3 billion recognition requests as of April 13, 2026, confirming its role as essential scientific infrastructure. Launched in 2014, the app resulted from a collaboration between botanists and computer scientists, utilizing deep learning algorithms to identify species from user-uploaded photographs.

Contributions from citizen science have enabled the platform to cover approximately 77,700 different plant species. PlantNet's integration into professional systems is demonstrated by the active use of its Application Programming Interface (API), which has handled 100 million identifications to date. This web service provides computational access to the visual identification engine, which is in high demand by companies looking to integrate automated plant recognition into their own products.

The data aggregated by the platform supports critical areas including agricultural management and biodiversity monitoring, where identification accuracy directly influences decision-making. Currently, more than 1,300 scientific papers worldwide utilize data obtained through PlantNet, including its contributions to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).

Despite its global reach, the PlantNet database shows an imbalance, with a predominance of information on European and North American flora. To improve the inventory of highly diversified tropical flora, the project is actively developing partnerships in biodiversity-rich regions, including Costa Rica, Brazil, and Malaysia. For example, the app's official launch in Costa Rica in 2019 facilitated the identification of approximately 3,800 native species.

A key step in consolidating global botanical knowledge was PlantNet's official joining of the World Flora Online (WFO) consortium in 2024. Launched in 2012 as a successor to The Plant List project, the WFO aims to create a comprehensive online compendium of all modern plant taxa under the UN Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. PlantNet's contribution of observational data to the WFO helps build a more complete global catalog, which was being developed with the participation of 55 organizations as of the end of 2024.

Researchers continue to work on improving recognition accuracy, noting that flowers remain the most reliably identifiable part of a plant. The current coverage of 85,000 species is still far from the estimated 400,000 species existing on the planet. The continuous training and refinement of the AI model rely on contributions from users who provide photographs of flowers, fruits, and leaves.